Golf club head



M y 1936 i w H FARRINGTON 2,040,252

GOLF CLUB HEAD Fi led May 5, 1954 Patented May 12, 1936 PATENT OFFICEGOLF CLUB HEAD William Henry Farrington, Chicago, Ill.

Application May 5, 1934, "Serial No. 724,030

Claims.

The object of the present'inventionis to make it possible to drive agolfb'a'll much farther with :a club of the wooden head type than ispossible .with clubs-now in use, assuming, -of course, that 5 theapplicationof force :or power in each case is the same.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterizedwill hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but,

for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects andadvantages, reference may be had to the following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevation of the lower end of a golf club embodying thepresent invention; and Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the head of theclub, a portion being shown in section.

Referring to the drawing, l represents the wood head of any usual orsuitable golf club of a type having a wood head. In the center of thestriking or driving face of the head is a large cavity 2 of considerabledepth. This cavity is preferably circular at the outer end or mouth ofthe latter, and may conveniently be in the form of a cylindricalchamber, as shown. Spanning this cavity and forming a cover or closuretherefor is a comparatively stiff, resilient member 3 which is securelyfixed to the head and constitutes the effective driving or strikingface. In the arrangement shown, the member 3 is in the form of a thickplate of resilient metal countersunk into the face of the club so as tolie flush with what may be termed the normal or original wood face. Thediameter of the cavity is preferably large being, in the arrangementshown, about two-thirds as great as the height of the actual face of theclub. The member 3 must, of course, be somewhat larger than the cavityso as to find support along the edge of the cavity. In the arrangementshown,

the plate is diamond-shaped, the long axis of the diamond beinghorizontal, and the plate being fastened in place by screws 4 passingthrough the plate and into the head near the two ends of the plate.

The plate is perforated in that part overlying or registering with thecavity. After experimenting with perforations of various sizes, numbersand distributions, I have found that the best results are obtained in aconstruction such as illustrated, where there is a central perforationabout which are distributed a considerable number, say eight, of similarperforations; the perforations being in the neighborhood of one-eighthof an inch in diameter. I wish to make it clear, how- 5 ever, that Ihave not tried every possible way of perforating the plate and that,consequently, the particular arrangement which I have just described issimply the best one that I have been able to discover up to the presenttime.

I believe it to be advantageousto place in the i5 cavity a metalabutment which will follow along the edge thereof and engage with theresilient plate so that, as the plate flexes under the impact of thehead against a golf ball, any two diametrically opposed point of supportfor the plate 10 always remain the same distance apart. In other words,if the only support for the plate were the wood, the wood mightgradually become compressed around and near to the cavity and thusproduce a change in the characteristics of the de- 15 vice due to anincrease in the distance between diametrically opposed points ofeffective support for the plate. In the arrangement shown, the abutmentis in the form of a dish-shaped metal element 6 which may convenientlybe a section of 20 a spherical shell. The member 6 abuts against thebottom wall of the cavity in the head at the center of the convex face,and the rim or free edge of the said element extends into the plane ofthat part of the face of the club immediately 25 adjacent to the cavityand therefore is in intimate contact with the rear face of the plate 3.

In clubs of this general type there is usually found a screw 1 which,when the cavity forming part of my invention is cut, lies at the axis ofthe 30 cavity. This screw may be employed as a secondary abutment by sopositioning it that the dishshaped. element 6 engages with the head ofthe screw instead of with the wood at the bottom of the cavity. 35

I have found that a golf ball can be driven from twenty to thirty yardsfarther with an ordinary club modified so as to embody my invention thanwas possible with the same club before the changes were made therein. 40

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a singlepreferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to theexact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend tocover all forms and ar- 45 rangements which come within the definitionsof my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A golf club head having in the driving face a cavity covering acomparatively large area, a 50 metal abutment engaged with the bottom ofthe cavity and presenting a free edge following the margin of the cavityand lying in the plane of that part of the face surrounding the cavity,and a resilient cover member for the cavity fixed to said face andresting against said edge of the abutment.

2. A golf club head having in the driving face a large circular cavity,a dish-shaped metal abutment arranged in said cavity with the bottomthereof in contact with the bottom wall of the cavity and the free edgefollowing the margin of the cavity and lying in the plane of that partof the face surrounding the cavity, and a comparatively stiff,presilient cover plate for said cavity overlying the latter and restingagainst said edge of the abutment.

3. A golf club head having in the driving face a large circular cavity,a dish-shaped metal abutment arranged in said cavity with the bottomthereof in contact with the bottom wall of the cavity and the free edgefollowing themargin of the cavity and lying in the plane of that part ofthe face surrounding the cavity, and a comparatively stiff, resilientcover plate for said cavity overlying the latter and resting againstsaid edge of the abutment, said cover plate being perforated in thatportion registering with the cavity.

4. A golf club head having in the driving face a large circular cavity,a dish-shaped member arranged in said cavity and having the contour of afragment of a sphere, said member abutting against the bottom wall ofthe cavity and having its free edge following the contour of the cavityand terminating in the plane of that part of the face surrounding thecavity, and a comparatively stilf plate of resilient metal fixed to saidface and bearing against said edge of the dish-shaped memher.

5,. A golf clubhead having in the driving face a large circular cavity,a dish-shaped member arranged in said cavity and having the contour of afragment of a sphere, said member abutting against the bottom Wall ofthe cavity and having its free edge following the contour of the cavityand terminating in the plane of that part of the face surrounding thecavity, a comparatively stiff plate of resilient metal fixed to saidface and r 7 bearing against said edge of the dish-shaped member, and ametal plug extending into the head from the bottom of the cavity, theouter face of the plug being in engagement with and forming a backingfor said dish-shaped member.

WILLIAM HENRY FARRINGTON.

